This is a joint procurement involving different countries, and the state applicable national procurement law is the Spanish one.
The lead procurer (Agència de Qualitat i Avaluació Sanitària de Catalunya) is appointed to coordinate and lead the joint PCP, and to sign and award the framework agreement and the specific contracts for all phases of the PCP, in the name and on behalf of the following buyers group:
— ICO/ VINCat (Catalan Institute of Oncology/Catalan Nosocomial Infections Surveillance). Spain,
— UKA (Aachen University Hospital). Germany,
— STH (Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. UK,
— PAT (Provincia Autonoma di Trento). Italy,
— Helios (Helios Universitätsklinikum Wuppertal). Germany,
— FMT (Fundació Mutua de Terrassa). Spain.
The lead procurer is not part of the buyers group.
The procurement will take the form of a pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) under which R&D service contracts will be awarded to a number of R&D providers in parallel in a phased approach. This will make it possible to compare competing alternative solutions.
Each selected operator will be awarded a framework agreement that covers 3 R&D phases. The 3 phases are:
— R&D up to solution design,
— R&D up to a prototype,
— R&D up to original development, validation and testing of a limited set of first products or services.
Testing is expected to take place in the facilities of the members of the buyers group FMT, PAT and Helios.
This testing may also serve as a first customer test reference for the contractors. The procurement – from the tender procedure until the subsequent performance of contracts – is expected to start in 28.7.2019 and to end in 31.8.2021.
The selected operators will retain ownership of the Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) that they generate during the PCP and will be able to use them to exploit the full market potential of the developed solutions beyond the procurers.